Ella's Jazz Concert

orchestra.

By the mid-1940’s, Ella was already a well-respected performer known throughout the music industry for her energetic and vibrant voice as well as for her exceptional control and vocal range. Continuing under the Decca label that Chick Webb’s orchestra worked with, Ella recorded many popular hits with various artists. Not only did Ella collaborate with Chick Webb, she also worked with the Benny Goodman Orchestra, Bill Kenny and the Ink Spots, Louis Jordan, the Delta Rythym Boys, and many others. She even struck out on her own to create Ella Fitzgerald and Her Savoy Eight. In 1942, she made her film debut in the Abbott and Costello western comedy Ride ‘Em Cowboy.

Ella became a part of Norman Granz’s Jazz at the Philharmonic concerts

For example, Ella at the Opera House shows a typical Jazz at the Philharmonic set, Ella in Rome and Twelve Nights in Hollywood show off her vocal jazz canon. Ella in Berlin is still one of her best selling albums and includes the Grammy-winning performance of "Mack the Knife". In this recording, Ella forgot the lyrics, but she improvised magnificently in their place. In 1963 Verve Records was sold to MGM for $3 million and in 1967 MGM did not renew Fitzgerald 's contract. For the next five years she moved between the Atlantic, Capitol and Reprise companies. The tunes she wrote at this time marked a departure from her typical jazz repertoire. During this time, she had her last US chart single; a cover of Smokey Robinson 's "Get

By the 1990s, Ella had recorded over 200 albums and in 1991, she gave her final concert at Carnegie Hall in New York. As her health deteriorated, at the age of 76, Ella experienced severe circulatory problems and had to have both of her legs amputated below the knees. Unfortunately, she never fully recovered from the surgery, and was rarely able to perform. On June 15, 1996, Ella Fitzgerald died in her home. She was then buried in the "Sanctuary of the Bells" section of the Sunset Mission Mausoleum at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood, California.

Ella was one of the early “scat” performers. She carved out a niche for herself among the growing jazz innovators, making recordings with such jazz greats as Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, and Louis Armstrong. Her greatest contribution to jazz can found in her artistic renderings of songs of her time. Ella once said “the moment I hit the stage, it’s a different feeling. I get nerve from somewhere; maybe it’s because it’s something I love to do.” Ella’s passion captures the heart of all who listen to her music, and it is that quality that